This week I came across a piano work by French composer Darius Milhaud (pronounced Mee-YO) called Saudades do Brasil, Op. 67. It’s a suite of 12 dances based on his trip to Brazil, and they’re simply charming. Although French, Milhaud (1892-1974) was heavily influenced by jazz and Brazilian music. In 1917-18, he traveled to Latin America and was […]
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Background When we say Baroque music, we typically think of composers like Bach and Handel. These composers – and this musical era in general – were vital in shaping music as we know it today. Beginning around 1600, the Baroque era was instrumental (pun definitely intended) in the normalization of tonality (harmony as we know […]
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This week I’m listening to 12 poems of Emily Dickinson by Aaron Copland, an American composer, teacher, and conductor who lived from 1900-1990. You can read more about him here. Have you ever read a poem that spoke to you in a way nothing else has? That’s what happened to Copland. He wanted to set some poetry […]
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The other day I was introduced to this piece – 3 Lieder nach Trakl, No. 1, Ein Traum I (Three Songs to Words by Trakl, No. 1, Three Dreams) by Polish composer Paweł Szymański (b. 1954). That’s a mouthful, I know. The first version I heard was this one, for soprano and piano: The first thing that struck […]
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I did a thing, you guys. Here’s a video: I wrote the piece Nebulae for Oregon State University (OSU) conductor Dr. Chris Chapman and the OSU Chamber Winds Ensemble. We premiered it (I’m on the piano) on Friday, February 24th, 2017, in the Memorial Union lounge as part of the university’s Music á la Carte program. […]
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Today I want to share with you a fun little piece I recently performed with the OSU Wind Ensemble. Danzón No. 2 was written by the Mexican composer Arturo Márquez (b. 1950) in 1994 after a commission from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Rhythm, through tempo changes and strangely placed accents, is the driving […]
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Today I’d like to share with you my “thinking music” playlist – music that has gotten me through hours of homework, studying, research, etc. It’s a mixture of film scores, ambient music, and more. Cascade by William Basinski: This is a wonderful example of simple electronic music that can be used for meditation. It’s quiet, understated, […]
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I found a new composer today named Marcos Balter. Born in 1974 in Brazil, he’s been a musician his whole life. Read more about him here. Balter’s compositional style is characteristic of 21st century composers in that it’s exploratory and unique. He makes new and colorful sounds through various extended techniques, unlikely instrumentation, and complex […]
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In 2014, the movie The Theory of Everything won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (it was also nominated for an Academy Award in the same category). I don’t normally pay attention to those sorts of things, but I was intrigued by the composer – Icelandic musician Jóhann Jóhannsson – so I looked up the score. […]
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This piece came up in my “Recommended” section in YouTube, and I’d never heard it before, so I listened to it and thought I’d share it with you! American composer John Adams began writing music at a young age. He is one of America’s most well-known composers, as he has written a variety of works for […]
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